Cranial Sacral Therapy, also known as Craniosacral Therapy or Cranio-Sacral Therapy, and often abbreviated to “CST”, is a soft and gentle, but powerful, healing technique that deals with important mechanics in our body and head.
CST can help with correcting and healing:
- Trauma that our body received from birth/delivery
- Trauma from motor-vehicle or automobile accidents
- Trauma from sports injuries, orthopedic and general accidents.
CST TREATMENT APPROACH
Craniosacral therapy is facilitated with a very gentle touch of our internal craniosacral rhythm – a rhythm that is unique to every one of us and is created by our internal hydraulic fluid system called the cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF).
This fluid is created inside the brain and is located all around your
- brain
- skull
- face
- spinal cord.
With training, experience and palpation, our CST practitioners can feel the CSF pulse and rhythm located throughout the body.
In a normal healthy and happy individual, this specific cerebro-spinal fluid rhythm is balanced and rhythmic, which strong and consistent pulses.
However, if one is exposed to short or long term stress or trauma, this CSF pulse will be affected negatively, and can become unhealthy. It shows in that:
- the pulses becomes arrhythmic (rhythm goes out of tune/sync)
- there is poor circulation of the cerebro-spinal fluid.
This results in discomfort and disturbances to physical, biological and emotional systems.
HOW IS CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY DONE?
Craniosacral therapy is a very gentle therapeutic treatment modality that is facilitated and works by applying gentle pressure to the
- bones of your skull
- bones of your spinal cord
- other areas/parts of the body
to help facilitate and provide you relief from pains, arrhythms and misalignment-related discomforts.
Somato-Emotional Release (SER)
In some individuals or instances, craniosacral therapy may produce/facilitate a sense or feeling of relief and “lightening”.
An example of this is when an individual, due to their circumstances, may have experienced:
- anger
- frustrations
- anxiety
- fears
- burdens
- other negative emotions
Unfortunately, even when the circumstances have “come and gone”, these emotions don’t disappear – they linger and get stored deep inside us (heart, mind, body). Often, due to these lingering emotions and pains, they may inadvertently cause:
- pains
- diseases
- discomfort
- a general sense of unease or unhealthiness.
With craniosacral adjustments, and taking into considerations your “Somato-Sensory History”, our CST Specialists help facilitate and guide you through a release we call Somato-Emotional Release (SER).
For some individuals, the lightening and release is great, while for others it may not be so great. Some have no response on the outside, though there is much healing work on the inside.
Somoto-Emotional Release Therapy is an advanced technique of craniosacral therapy, and in some cases, patients may gain ideas, insights, understandings, “that clicking where things fall into place”, of how their emotions, values and belief systems are stored in their minds, spinal cords, cerebro-spinal fluid and body… and all the way to deep inside them.
SER is specifically for helping to locate those stored emotions and belief systems which do not serve you well, and helping to facilitate release of those emotional disturbances through a very therapeutic, gentle and relaxing approach, which will bring about a sense of well being, ease and perhaps happiness.
CAN CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY HELP ME?
For most individuals, yes, it will help, even with or without physical injuries or accidents. Many people come to us for craniosacral therapy (CST) as a last resort, only when they have “exhausted all other means”. Though we often see the strongest results for these cases, we recommend all individuals with a sense of unease or pain to come to us as soon as possible.
For those who have conditions such as:
- Acute & chronic neck pain
- Acute & chronic back pain
- Migraines and headaches
- Breathing and respiratory issues
- Vertigo (dizziness)
- Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
- Joint strains and sprains
- Muscle strain and tightness
- Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Pre and post surgical interventions
- Coordination impairments
- Dyslexia
- Rheumatism
- Fibromyalgia Syndrome
- Scoliosis
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFD)
- Emotions and moodiness
- TMJ (temporomandibular joint) syndrome
- Sport injuries and pains
- Tennis Elbow
- Golfer’s Elbow
- Carpal Tunnel Syndromes (CTS)
- Central nervous system (CNS) disorders
- Pre, during & post pregnancy issues
- Birth-related traumas
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
- Spinal cord injuries (SCI)
- Bell’s Palsy (facial paralysis)
- Learning disabilities
- Infantile disorders
- Chronic viruses & infections
- Allergies & poor immunity
- Metabolism disorders
- Arthritis
- Physical pain, soreness and stiffness
WHERE AND HOW IS CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY DONE?
Craniosacral therapy sessions are facilitated and administered in our clinics with patients fully clothed and usually lying face up on a medical bed.
Our CST practitioner will then start to apply gentle pressure, focusing mainly on your head, skull, neck and spinal cord to facilitate and promote healing experiences. Where applicable, they will also facilitate Somato-Emotional Releases.
CST sessions are facilitated therapeutic healing processes, and during sessions you may experience a combination of physiological, physical and emotional signs such as:
- heat
- pulses
- tingling
- vibration.
Note that our CST practitioners at Phoenix Rehab will not use any equipment other than their hands on your head, neck, spinal cord, and we will not shake patients – these experiences are internal Somato-Emotional Releases.
Our CST practitioners’ focus is mainly to provide relief from:
- a sense of un-ease/dis-ease
- physical/physiological pains
- emotional issues such as anxieties, fears, doubts
by guiding you through a series of craniosacral therapy experiences and sessions.
